Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul has called the show’s final run of episodes “a violent sprint sprint to the finish line”.

The hit US drugs drama returned to record ratings in the US on Sunday night (August 11) and now has just seven episodes to go until it reaches its conclusion. UK viewers are able to watch on Netflix, where each episode is being made available immediately after it finishes in the US.

Paul, who plays Jesse Pinkman, right-hand man to Bryan Cranston‘s Walter White, has discussed the tone of the show’s final stretch in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.

“The final eight [episodes] is just such a violent sprint to the finish line. Each season we get progressively darker and darker, and this final season is hands down the darkest one yet,” Paul teased. “It’s just so raw and it doesn’t allow the audience to breathe because we don’t have time to do that.”

Meanwhile, Cranston branded the concluding run “brutal” and warned viewers that it “does not let up. It’s not going to give you a break”.

The very last episode of Breaking Bad is scheduled to air in the US on September 27. However, the show’s creator Vince Gilligan has recently given an update on a proposed spin-off show focusing on Saul Goodman, the dodgy lawyer played by Bob Odenkirk. “It’s not a done deal yet, but it’s definitely something we’re full speed ahead on trying to get going,” Gilligan said at the start of July.